Undercover deputy shot

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Prayers for this deputy, first of all.
Second, we have talked about somewhat similar situations.
Without knowing all the details of this particular event...
...

Not a lot of information in that report. Such as, did LEO ID himself, was the shooter a BG or a mistake, was it a criminal stop or just a speeding ticket/

No matter what went down, I hope the LEO recovers fully and quickly.

As for me, if they have a blue light in a unmarked car, I'll try and stop at a service station of strip mall. Someplace well lit and public. If they are ramming my rear bumper, and waving a gun around, good chance I'll stop at that service station and come out of my car armed and ready.

I hate dealing with cops that are not in a uniform (not that I ever have, but it would be scary). I mean, if a LEO in plan clothes stops me, I'm going to try and keep my eyes on the guy (not knowing if he's a LEO). He, meanwhile will be using his training to approach me in a manner that provides him concealment/cover. If he's drawn a weapon, it's going to freak me out big time, and I'm going to draw a weapon and try and get eyes on him... blah, I can just see it getting real bad real quick.

So if a police officer tried to stop me dressed as stated below, I wouldn't allow it. That is not a police officer to me. I don't care how many flashing lights he has on his unmarked car. I call 911 and avoid being stopped.

"The wounded deputy was wearing shorts and shoes, but was without a shirt."

28-year old Maury Hernandez, a five year veteran of the force, had just left his home and was going to a special detail in Pembroke Park when he decided to pull over a motorcyclist in the 3700 block of Pembroke Road in Hollywood.

"He apparently saw something going wrong," said Broward Sheriff Ken Jenne, "saw something suspicious, saw a traffic violation, and made a decision that he was going to stop someone."

At one point during the stop, the motorcyclist allegedly jumped off the bike and started running. Jenne said as Hernandez went to run after him, the man turned and fired, striking Hernandez in the head.

Hernandez was rushed to Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood in “very critical’ condition.

Randy Morla, with Action A/C & Auto Repair, said he was on his way to work when he passed by a red Mazda and noticed a man crouched in pain the ground.

"I could tell something was wrong," said Morla, "then I noticed two other police deputies running across the golf course across the way."

After the shooting, the suspect ran across the Hillcrest Golf Course into the Hillcrest Condo Development at 4330 Hillcrest Drive and was taken into custody near building 23, according to BSO.

The shooting aftermath drew a massive police presence to the scene.

BSO spokeswoman Veda Coleman-Wright says the detective's brother, works with the nearby Hallandale Beach Police Department, also responded to the call. The brother is a rookie who just recently graduated from the police academy. He was taken to the hospital to be with his brother who worked in the BSO's Selective Enforcement Team in District 1.

"Over the next couple of days we are going to have to say a lot of prayers for him, hold his hands," said Jenne,"if recovery comes, it's going to be a long, long time."

The east and westbound lanes of Pembroke Road, from I-95 to SW 40th Ave. will remain closed through rush hour and into the evening.

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Video: BSO deputy shot
HOLLYWOOD, Fla. (AP) -- A motorcyclist shot an off duty Broward County sheriff's deputy Monday after he was pulled over during a routine traffic stop, authorities said. The officer was in critical condition.

Deputy Maury Hernandez suffered "a serious catastrophic injury to the right side of his head," and is on a mechanical ventilator, Sheriff Ken Jenne said.

Hernandez, 28, was on his way to work around 11:50 a.m. when he stopped David Maldonado, 23, of Hollywood, for a routine traffic stop. Maldonado fled on foot, then turned around and shot the deputy, authorities said in a statement.

Maldonado was arrested moments later at a nearby condominium, officials said.

Nearly a dozen officers and rescue workers helped load the deputy onto a stretcher. He was taken to Memorial Regional Hospital where he underwent surgery.

"The next couple of days we're going to have to say a lot of prayers for him," said Jenne, who was at the hospital.

Hernandez worked in one of the agency's specialized units and was on his way to a large undercover operation. He was not in uniform, authorities said.

Dozens of marked and unmarked patrol cars surrounded the scene. The deputy's brother works with nearby Hallandale Police Department, which also responded to the call, she said.

Investigators closed off a road in the area and were looking for evidence.

War is not the ugliest of things. Worse is the decayed state of moral feeling which thinks nothing is worth a war. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which he cares for more than his personal safety, is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free. -J.S. Mill

Without knowing all the details of this particular event...
You are riding down the road, and LE attempt to pull you over.
They are undercover, unmarked vehicle.
What do you do?

Hell, I'm "under cover" and in an unmarked vehicle, yet I'm not LEO. It's that easy. Way, way too easy for non-LEO's to use this as a legitimate tactic to get inside defenses. I'd require confirmation (911 guided). Exit the roadway, out of people's view, allowing anything to happen? Not on your life. Certainly not on mine.

An undercover officer forcing citizens to do his bidding treads a very fine line, as the citizens have little but trust to go on. In today's savage environment where BG's are attempting darned near anything, that's a risky way to proceed.

I hope the officer recovers.

Another example of how dangerous "fleeing" BG's can be. Words to the wise.

Think about it, your tooling along on your Harley and a car comes up behind you, the driver is not even wearing a shirt, and is just inches off your rear tire. Your on a Harley, so outrunning them isn't an option. What do you do? Knowing you will not survive a tap at high speed, in traffic... you pull over. The guy gets out of the car, with a weapon in hand... you run, he chases... maybe says "Stop or I'll shoot"

Granted, the motorist could very well be a drug dealing scum bag, but he could also be a fine, upstanding citizen that happened to cut off a off duty officer in traffic.

Either way, I hope the officer fully recovers, and I hope there is a real investigation in to what happened and the truth is told.

Think about it, your tooling along on your Harley and a car comes up behind you, the driver is not even wearing a shirt, and is just inches off your rear tire. Your on a Harley, so outrunning them isn't an option. What do you do? Knowing you will not survive a tap at high speed, in traffic... you pull over. The guy gets out of the car, with a weapon in hand... you run, he chases... maybe says "Stop or I'll shoot"

Granted, the motorist could very well be a drug dealing scum bag, but he could also be a fine, upstanding citizen that happened to cut off a off duty officer in traffic.

Either way, I hope the officer fully recovers, and I hope there is a real investigation in to what happened and the truth is told.

Said lawfully armed fine, upstanding citizen would have remained on the scene.......

Hernandez, 28, was on his way to work around 11:50 a.m. when he stopped David Maldonado, 23, of Hollywood, for a routine traffic stop. Maldonado fled on foot, then turned around and shot the deputy, authorities said in a statement.

Maldonado was arrested moments later at a nearby condominium, officials said.

Sorry, it reads to me that he ran away from a shirtless guy with a gun, then fired on the shirtless guy, and was arrested without any further resistance. Of course, I don't know... I'm just saying don't be so quick to judge what happened.

As a person that has been stop by fake cop using an unmark car with a flashing red light.
I had left NY and don’t know if this case is still open, so I will not elaborate on this Nightmare of mine. (As in giving out major details)

The reason I stop was do to the fact that a month prier to this incident, I was having lunch with my buddy in the car (parked) and an undercover NYPD guys drove by and looked at us, so they drove back and came walk up to us and ask “What are you guys doing” and I said having lunch, he then ask to see IDs and we gave him our id and then told us to get out of the car, then they search us and the car with out asking, but it was ok since we had nothing to hide. The other guy called the guy that by me “Sgt” and This Sgt was looking to find something to make an arrest.

Ok second time stopped, I had my CCP and a firearm with me, so did my friend who was also in the car with me at that time. Now when I saw the red light behind me, my thoughts was that when I was at an area with my buddy, that he made had flashed or his gun was printing and someone called the cops.

Well when I stopped the car these two undercover FAKE cops ran up to my window and said “ARE YOU ARM” I said yes, please let me show you my CCP, they said no and for their safety they had to but my buddy and I in cuffs, but when they put the cuff on us while sitting in the car, that’s when I told my buddy “Dam these guys are not cops” and my buddy said to me “you don’t think so” What cop put a person into cuffs while sitting in a car. Anyway after the cuffs were on me, this fake cop removed my gun and with it at the side of my door he looked at it and pointed it down and removed the safety on it. And that is when my life flashed before me! They took my buddy’s gun and left.
A police report was done and my gun license was suspended by NYPD.

I have so many LEO friends tell me why I stopped, as if it would be easy to do.
I was so upset on how NYPD treated me that, I left NY and moved to Florida.

These days I will not stop for any Unmark car with out calling 911 and putting on my hazard lights on and going to the sheriff office, then they will know why I did not stopped.

Biker held in shooting of BSO deputy
BSO unit fights drugs, prostitution
``He's got a gun on him...gun on him ...!''

Those were the last truncated words from Broward Sheriff's Deputy Maury Hernandez before he was shot in the head Monday after what he thought was a routine traffic stop.

Moments later, deputies -- still not aware that an officer was wounded -- sped to the scene, their radios crackling as the dispatchers feverishly tried to determine his location.

Minutes later, another deputy, clearly distraught, arrived at the scene where Hernandez had fallen, his gun and radio on the pavement beside him.

''Officer down!'' the deputy shouted.

And the hunt was on for a gunman.

Those dispatches, from Monday's 911 recording of the minutes before and after Hernandez was shot, were played by Sheriff Ken Jenne at a press conference at BSO headquarters Tuesday afternoon.

Hernandez, 28, a five-year-veteran, remains in critical condition, hooked to a ventilator at Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood. Jenne on Monday called his injury ``catastrophic.''

The shooting suspect, David Maldonado, 23, is being held without bail at the Broward county jail on charges of attempted first-degree murder and violation of probation.

At Tuesday's press conference, Jenne told reporters that Maldonado told them he shot Hernandez because he feared he would be sent to jail and thereby miss the birth of his child.

At Maldonado's arraignment earlier Tuesday, his court-appointed attorney, Assistant Public Defender Michael Glickstein, noted that Maldonado was injured during his arrest and requested that photographs be taken of his injuries.

Maldonado, of Miramar, is accused of shooting Hernandez after the deputy stopped him on Pembroke Road in Hollywood about noon Monday.

Hernandez was in plainclothes and driving an unmarked cruiser eastbound on Pembroke Road, enroute to an assignment when he noticed a motorcycle running several red lights. The motorcyclist, later identified as Maldonado, made a U-turn into a motorcycle shop on Pembroke Road. Hernandez followed.

By the time Hernandez arrived at the shop at 11:46 a.m., Maldonado had already stepped off the cycle and removed his helmet, Jenne said.

Jenne said Hernandez got out of his car and, according to witnesses, clearly identified himself as a sheriff's deputy. Witness saw Hernandez take out his badge and display it around his neck, Jenne said.

Witnesses, Jenne said, added that Hernandez was ''non-confrontational'' as he informed Maldonado that he had run a red light.